


End of Summer

by agarwoods



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 17:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12089391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agarwoods/pseuds/agarwoods
Summary: He knows that summer is over, but when his fingers find their way towards yours, and when you look at him with a surprised expression that melts into a warm smile, he knows that it’s not truly the end. His forever… is only just beginning.Belated birthday fic for V.[V/Reader-insert]





	End of Summer

The first signs of autumn are the changing colours of the leaves. Mornings are chillier than he’s used to, and he can smell the first of the autumn breezes. The flowers start to wither, not quite dead yet, but on their last breaths of life. The birds start to migrate, and the animals start to prepare for the upcoming winter. 

There’s nothing definitive about the season; it’s the in-between stage of mother nature. Jihyun’s not sure if he likes autumn very much because the seasons blur into one another, and he’s often left wondering where did the pleasant summer days go, or when the winter will finally arrive.

But it’s not like he can see much anyway, he thinks. He’s been confined to his house to recover, and his eyes are still half-blind.

The first autumn is tough. He spends weeks in the hospital, but when he finally gets to return home — the word sounds so foreign on his tongue — he misses the absence of alcohol and disinfectants, and the constant in-and-out of people he doesn’t even know. When he’s home, he’s surrounded by everything he _should_ know: the photographs of him and her, the empty canvases of unfinished paintings, the cliff behind his house, and of the flowers that grow in his yard. 

He _should_ recognize these things, but he doesn’t. And when you ask him if he wants to clean up his house, Jihyun shakes his head. 

He can’t quite let go of these things, despite everything.

—

V has always hated the winter. It’s always too gloomy outside; he can’t take his camera out for long without his fingers freezing. His boots are heavy and always get dirty from the salt, and his body is heavier due to the layers and layers of clothing.

But you love it. You love the cold of the winter; the snow, the way your favourite latte drips down the back of your throat and immediately warms your belly. You love the affection in the air, the way people snuggle up to each other in order to keep warmth. You love the christmas carols and the enchanting lights. You love the holidays, because it reminds people to care.

There have been many invitations for the holidays, but Jihyun has declined all. He’s not in the holiday mood, everyone knows.

He feels a bit bad when you go to the stores and force yourself to look away from the Christmas decorations, but when you pass through an aisle with tinsel garlands one day, it is Jihyun who puts the package into the cart. You don’t notice it until you’re checking out, but when you ask Jihyun for confirmation, he nods his head.

“It’s fine if you want to put up some stuff…”

He’s not a fan of the holidays this year, but when your face lights up in sheer joy, he thinks — yeah, he can put up with a few decorations. 

On the morning of Christmas, when Jihyun awakens, he sees you sitting on the living room floor, putting together a small puzzle as you chat with your family through your tablet.

“…maybe after New Years… I’m not sure if I’ll have time, but I’ll make sure to call,” you reply. There’s the noise of his tv playing old christmas movies, but Jihyun can also hear familiar christmas tunes coming from the screen of your tablet. 

“Should we come over there?” your mom asks. “Minwoo will be going away with some of his friends for the New Years, but your dad and I can still come. Your grandmother has been making a lot of food, too.”

“I miss granny’s cooking too, but…”

“Oh, I think your friend is awake,” your mom suddenly points out, and you promptly look behind you to see V standing awkwardly at the entrance of the living room. He scratches the side of his neck and looks away, as if he’s embarrassed for unintentionally eavesdropping.

“You’re awake!” you greet happily at first, only to wince immediately after. “Sorry, was I being too loud?”

“No, not at all…”

“Are you hungry?” you ask, pushing yourself up from your seat on the floor. “I’ve made some breakfast… Let me reheat some food for you.”

Before he can even protest — you should continue your call with your family — you are already bouncing to the kitchen and Jihyun is once again, standing awkwardly by himself.

It doesn’t feel like Christmas, Jihyun thinks, as he looks around his house. Aside from the tinsel garlands, there’s no sign of the holiday. There’s not even snow on the window panels, or the scent of ginger spice in the air… He can see that you’ve left your video call with your parents running, and the movie is one that he hasn’t watched in a long time. It’s not such a bad feeling, but he’s vividly aware of how incomplete it feels.

He takes a seat on a barstool by the kitchen counter, and tells you, “If you want to go see your family, that’s alright with me.”

“I can’t leave you by yourself,” you reply nonchalantly, with your back to him, taking food out of the refrigerator. “It’s fine. I see them all the time anyway.”

Your Christmas is spent quietly this year. It’s nothing extravagant or joyous compared to previous years, and even though you and Jihyun stay glued to the couch all day watching old classics, he doesn’t mind, not really. The blankets are warm, and the movies are still entertaining despite how outdated they are, and, you actually make the best hot cocoa. It snows later that evening, and your eyes light up as you peer through the window, like a little child seeing snow for the first time. 

But when the clock strikes midnight, and it’s officially the 26th, you reach over the couch and pull out a small box. 

“I know you said you didn’t want to celebrate Christmas this year, but it’s not the 25th anymore, so…”

He says your name softly, but you won’t let him refuse the gift. You pull your blanket up to your shoulder and shake your head.

“It’s nothing big, I promise.”

He knows he won’t be able to refuse, so his fingers peel apart the ribbon around the box, the wrapping, then—

“A camera?”

“It’s a polaroid,” you tell him. “I know you take photographs to make the moment last forever, but, sometimes, the fleeting ones are just as important, too.”

He knows you’re not just talking about photography, but he’s not angry at the implication. His fingers run around the edges of the camera, reciting the words inside of his mind… He’d never been a easy-going person, as much as he liked to pretend to be. But somehow, he quite likes the sound of your advice.

This winter isn’t as cold as he remembers, and part of Jihyun knows that it’s not simply because of the weather. 

—

When you head to the coffee shop to order your favourite seasonal drink, and the barista tells you that it’s gone for the season, you sigh mournfully and settle for the next best drink. V almost laughs at your behaviour, one that rivals that of a child’s, and reassures you that they’ll have it again next year. 

“You’ve got to try it next winter,” you tell him. 

V smiles, and promises that he will, but he doesn’t actually tell you that he dislikes the scent of nutmeg. 

Actually, what entices him into making that promise is the unspoken one: that you’re going to be around next winter. He quite likes the sound of _that_ promise.

—

He knows that it’s spring when the birds have come out to play. They sing their song early in the morning, perched outside of his bedroom window sill, and even though V groans into his pillow at the ungodly hour — he’s never been much of a morning person — there’s a smile on his lips because he can feel the warmth of the sun shining through his window. 

“I didn’t know you grew daffodils,” you comment one day, when the flowers have bloomed, and the sun has come to to play.

“Ah, I—“ he falters for a moment, unsure of how to explain himself. But he doesn’t need to, because you see the way that he looks away and scratches the back of his neck. The answer is obvious, even if he doesn’t say it, and he thinks that he must look like such a pathetic lovestruck fool because the remnants of _her_ still linger even though he’s trying and—

“Oh!” comes your sudden gasp, and V blinks as he turns towards you in curiosity.

“What happened?”

“You have tulips growing in your garden, too.”

“Really?” He asks, “Where?”

“Oh… They must have gotten mixed up then.”

“I… never really noticed that before.”

You laugh at him, and venture further into the flower bed to inspect the growing plants. Throughout the entire process, there’s a smile that plays on your lips, one that makes Jihyun wonder in curiosity what it’s for. It’s a secret smile, and he knows that it’s not just because of your excitement at the growing flowers.

Later that night, when he searches on his laptop, he comes to learn that tulips hold a different kind of significance compared to daffodils. It is that they symbolize a perfect kind of love, despite the simplicity of the flowers. He finds it quite fitting. 

It is funny how much he has learnt in these past few months. Jihyun feels much more enlightened than he has in all his 20-something years of life, feels like he has learnt more from you than he has from all his professors and life-advisors in the past. He has learnt that love comes in all shapes and forms, and, when he peers over at you from the living room couch, thinks that sometimes, the best kind of loves come when we’re not searching for it. 

Later that week, V makes it a personal note to clear out his house. He digs out the daffodils from his yard, and replaces them with tulips.

—

Sometimes, there aren’t many words said between the two of you. It’s often silence that accompanies the both of you; not that Jihyun doesn’t have anything to say, but sometimes, the silence speaks volumes. Other times, he’ll be on the phone with you far past midnight, vividly aware that he needs to be up early the next morning, but, oh—he can spend hours just listening to your voice. When you speak of your colourful days, bright, dull, or in-between, Jihyun can imagine your expression.

And when you disappear because of work or to visit your family, Jihyun’s world darkens just a little bit. He knows now, how the others must have felt whenever Jihyun disappeared. But he knows better now. Even though he’s sad when you’re gone, you’ve taught him to carry on. There’s anticipation for tomorrow, and the day after that, and the following—

“This summer went by so fast,” you sigh, looking a bit mournful as you peer over the side of the couch, out of the windows and at the orange-red landscape. 

Yes, he thinks. Time seems to fly by so quickly with you. It’s not a bad thing, of course, but—

Jihyun still thinks that he could spend forever with you. He wants to, in fact. And, later, when he you both attend the surprise birthday party that he’s not supposed to know about, he’ll let you know just how much he appreciates his time with you. 

Sometimes, silence speaks volumes. But most often, it is that the words we speak will carry the most weight.

He knows that summer is over, but when his fingers find their way towards yours, and when you look at him with a surprised expression that melts into a warm smile, he knows that it’s not truly the end. His forever… is only just beginning.


End file.
